MSS: Anthony Nesty

Anthony Nesty has taken on new responsibilities at the University of Florida during the Olympic year, working with the collegiate swimmers while head coach Gregg Troy deals with the postgrads and demands of being Olympic head coach. He talks about working at Florida, getting his first international coaching gig for the USA and relives the experience of winning Olympic gold in 1988.

Show Transcript: (Note: This is an automated service where some typos and grammatical errors may occur.)

Peter Busch: Welcome to the Morning Swim Show for Friday, September 30th, 2011. I'm your host, Peter Busch in the Finis Monitor Today. We'll talk to Anthony Nesty. The former Olympic champion is now Associate Head Swim Coach at the University of Florida. Anthony Nesty joins us right now in the Finis Monitor from Gainesville. Coach Nesty, how are you doing?

Anthony Nesty: I'm doing well, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Peter Busch: How you like being a head coach for the year?

Anthony Nesty: Well, it's a great honor, of course, especially when Florida is your alma mater and you're coaching there so it's special and as you well know, it's a lot of work.

Peter Busch: I do. Now, I know Coach Troy has a lot on his plate being the head Men's Coach for the U.S. Olympic Team, preparing for that, but give us an idea of what it's like. Is he still there every day, are you taking over some of the responsibilities this year? How is it being divvied up?

Anthony Nesty: Well, he has his international group that he is focused on but he still, obviously involved with the varsity team. It's just that the college team -- we kind of have separate names for both teams but you know, Martin and I are trying to take care of the college team where he is mostly focused on the aspect of being the head coach for the men for the Olympics and taking care of the international group here as well.

Peter Busch: As well you got to go to the World University Games as an assistant coach for the U.S. How was that like for you?

Anthony Nesty: Yeah, that was awesome on my first U.S. trip so those kind of a special deal for me in working at all those great countries in the U.S. It was pretty special for me and again, it was my first trip and interacting with all those great athletes from the U.S. it was something special.

Peter Busch: Do you still have family in Surianame?

Anthony Nesty: Yeah, my mom and dad still live there, yeah.

Peter Busch: You go back there from time to time?

Anthony Nesty: I haven't been in a while but obviously work - there's a lot of work to do here and games as well and being the college coach and swimming takes a lot of your time as you well know, especially if you're a coach but my parents come here quite often.

Peter Busch: Okay. I want to ask you about the moment, the famous moment for you in 1988. You're in Seoul, Korea, Olympic Games going against Matt Biondi in the 100 fly. He's the heavy favorite, having a historical Olympic Games but you touched him out by one one-hundredth of a second. What do you remember about that race?

Anthony Nesty: Well, all I wanted to do at that race – because at the 75 I kind of knew I was probably top three, and my goal was to get a medal at that point in time but - so I just charged the last 25. As coaches always said, the last 10 meters, put your head down and keep your strokes long and get to the wall as fast as you can, which I did so I was pretty fortunate that day.

Peter Busch: Remind us what the finish was like because I think people want to compare to the Phelps-Cavic from the last Olympics and kind of the bizarre way that that finish unfolded with it seemed like it was over but then you know, between Cavic gliding in and Phelps with the super quick short stroke touching him out by one one-hundredth of a second. What was it like visually. Remind us.

Anthony Nesty: Well, visually for me, I saw Matt, you know on the corner of my right eye. He was way ahead so there's no way I could have caught him but obviously he glided in the last two meters and you thought he had the race won and again fortunate for me where I - my stroke count was right on that day and when I touched the wall he was still kicking in and you know, I fortunately won. So, you know, pretty lucky and sometimes it's good to have a little luck behind you.

Peter Busch: I swear, I asked that honestly not remembering what it was like but it sounds remarkably similar to the Cavic-Phelps situation.

Anthony Nesty: Very similar, and as a matter of fact, they're both Cal guys, I think. No, but again, it was – it's racing, and you hold the old clichés now and the race is never over until you touch the wall and that holds true.

Peter Busch: Are you saying the Cal guys don't know how to keep their head down at the finish like I tell everybody, every day on this show.

Anthony Nesty: No, I didn't say that. I just mentioned that they were both Cal guys but again, the old cliché holds true for sure. The race isn't over until the end.

Peter Busch: How was Coach Troy – because a lot of people don't remember this – Coach Troy was your coach 25 years ago when you were getting ready for the Olympics, right?

Anthony Nesty: Coach Troy, yup, he was and also on campus here but it was a very special moment. My dad was in the stands, Coach Troy was there and the college coach, Randy Reese, was there as well and again, it was a special moment for me and my family and especially the people come back home because they, you know, the first medal ever for Suriname and that was a big deal especially back home.

Peter Busch: How is Coach Troy changed over the past 25 years as a coach?

Anthony Nesty: Well, he is still the same, fiery old guy but he has calmed down a little bit, but he's still has the passion for what he does. He's always fair on a day-to-day dealing with the athletes, which is the way I like it myself. It can be challenging, but you also have to be fair with the athletes. The good thing about the things here, we have a lot of good people here, great athletes and they have the great attitudes and they want to get better and hard work certainly pays off.

Peter Busch: What are your expectations for the teams this year?

Anthony Nesty: Well, to be top 10 as always our goal. To win the SEC's always our goal in conference and to be top 10 at the NCAA meet is always what we strive for here at UF.

Peter Busch: Well, good luck this year, Coach, and thank you very much for joining us in reminiscing a little bit about the past and for bringing up Cal, that was fun.

Anthony Nesty: Thank you, thank you and enjoy the rest of the week.

Peter Busch: Alright, thanks, you too. That's Coach Anthony Nesty joining us from Gainesville, Florida. That's it for today's show, I'm Peter Busch, like I said, reminding everyone to keep their head down at the finish.